The Prince

The book is great but quality is also near great one thing is that it had little scratches small ones barely visible but its fine i highly recommend the book

Excellent book and great service

To be as succinct as Machiavelli himself, this is perhaps, pound-for-pound, the best book ever written about statecraft (and thus, indirectly, human nature). The few hours you need to finish this will be well spent. This Penguin Classic version is characteristic of the series, tastefully bound and well printed for the price while providing enough context to understand some of the deeper meanings that may not be immediately relevant to the modern reader. A must have for any serious bookshelf.

Niccolo Machiavelli's name has come to represent cunning and guile of the most invidious nature. In fact, his advice in this book should be read by anyone in any political station of life. In the words of Tim Parks, the excellent translator, 'It tells how to win power and above all, how to hold onto it, how not to be a victim of circumstance.' There are no sentimental, politically correct concepts here. Everything is completely pragmatic. The chapter headings include 'Avoiding contempt and hatred', 'What a ruler should do to win respect', 'Cruelty and compassion', 'Whether it is better to be feared or loved'. Of course it was written in the days when one became a leader by force, and as Tim Parks reveals in his fascinating introduction, what we now know as 'Italy', was, in the 15th century, a large number of states constantly at war with each other. Machiavelli's world was 'sometimes unspeakably cruel … once established in a position of power a ruler may have no choice but to kill or be killed.' This is not a world we would wish to inhabit today, but it is so refreshing to read: "A Ruler mustn't worry about being labelled cruel when it's a question of keeping his subjects loyal and united; using a little exemplary severity, he will prove more compassionate than the leader whose excessive compassion leads to public disorder, muggings and murder. That kind of trouble tends to harm everyone …' I recommend this book, and this particular translation, to anyone who is fed up with our hypocritical, duplicitous political governments, today.

The book itself has the explanation of how it became into existence, in term of linguistic and historical reasons. The author did some serious work in researching other translation, and come up with a new one which seems quite fair in conveying the original meaning. Although I haven't finished reading the book yet, but so far it does feel like a good translation that worth diving in. Delivery? Amazon did a great job again as we always expect: fast, reliable, and punctual.

I do not speak Italian, so, when I say that Tim Parks' translation of The Prince is great, I mean in comparison with others. (I had read Robert M. Adams' translation in the Norton Critical Edition not long before I read Parks' translation, and I tried Parks' translation because I like Parks' novels.) Parks' translation of The Prince is great in its clarity; it is written in plain, modern English. The historical material in The Prince, which can seem dense in other translations, flows right along in Parks'. His 24-page introduction and his 14-page "translator's note" are also superb. The latter explains his philosophy of translation and compares passages in his translation with those of others'. The translator's note left me assured, even though I do not read Italian, that I could trust Parks' accuracy; I believe that nothing was lost in accuracy, and much was gained in readability, by his use of plain, modern English. Parks provides very few footnotes, but I didn't miss them, because I was caught up in the text. The book also contains a glossary of proper names, with long paragraphs devoted to some of the names, but I didn't make much use of it, for the same reason that I didn't miss the scarcity of footnotes.